Hey! Rex junior!

Tags

chewing, dogs, eating, postaday2015

I have written on several occasions of Rex’s former chewing escapades.

They started when he was a puppy and continued until he was about a year and a half and he ate books, ottomans, shoes and chewed on chairs, piano seats and stairs. He never went after food left on counters, that was good old Marshall, our walking Black Lab. Our Lulu is mixing it up with the two behaviors; last night she went after the meat pie that was sitting on the stovetop and finished the remaining 3/4 quarters of it and today she grabbed one of our wooden spoons that was lying on the counter, being used to stir the simmering chili, as you can see it is now useless as a spoon, it is going into the fireplace as kindling.

I suppose that by saying that she is channeling Rex and Marshall, it makes it easier to not get mad, but instead fondly reminisce on the escapades of our beloved Rex and Marshall because as you might have ascertained from many of my previous posts, we really miss those two and we most definitely miss our little Tuck, the unique Beagle that we got to love for three years.

Lulu is seriously keeping us on our toes. Oh yes and Jack is there, right behind her, helping with the mischief, the little imp.

Eat to live, live to eat

Tags

denial, eating, food, living, postaday2012, weight

Some people eat to live, while others live to eat. What about you? How far would you travel for the best meal of your life?

Humans don’t have a choice, we must eat to live which is why anyone with any type of eating disorder has the worst time dealing with their disorder; you cannot escape having to eat.

I can only address this question within the lens of my own experiences growing up in a culinary obsessed family and also recovering from my own eating disorder. Ever since I can remember, what we were going to eat at the next meal was always the question of the moment. It was a question that my mother asked after breakfast, after lunch and after dinner in order to plan sufficiently and well for the next meal no matter if it were for one, two or ten people, knowing what was coming next was always of vital importance. My mother wasn’t the only one, all of the cooks in my family always had that same question on their mind as soon as the last bite of their breakfast, lunch or dinner was had. I was conditioned to consider the whole meal as something that greatly mattered; it had to be healthy, nutritious, not too fattening, vegetables were incredibly important and everyone’s tastes needed to be accommodated. Staying at the table after everyone was finished and brainstorming over what was next to be prepared was a normal after eating conversation. I always enjoyed planning and searching for something new and exciting to prepare, something to challenge my culinary skills and something new to learn from, cooking is another way to visit the world and learn about different customs, practices and philosophies.

Part of this food conditioning served me well in my anorexic heyday. What I mean by serving me well is that I used some of these tools to become a very adroite anorexic which are two words that should never be used together. I used the word adriote because for a long enough while I was able to hide my disease, if I had been truly successful, I would have died. Subconsciously that is what the anorexic is looking for, the ultimate way to erase herself from the world. But the tools that were instrumental in controlling my eating was the detailed food planning, the research and the discipline that comes from any scholarly endeavor. The inconvenient truth of being human and requiring food to live was an annoyance and I was striving to find ways to eat as little as possible to live; so I was definitely not living to eat, I was barley hanging on. Nowadays, I still struggle with my body image not on the same level as when I was younger but it still gives me a challenge.

I am happy to say that I do live to eat even if I am not indulging, rather I am sustaining; but I love cooking and planning for others; what delicious morsels I can prepare for them that will make them happy. I have found that you can live to eat and maintain a good weight as long as you get equally excited about fruits, vegetables and whole grains as you do about protein and sweet things. I have also found that Michael Pollan had the best advice for anyone who loves to indulge in food such as cakes and french fries; as long as you make it from scratch and do all of the clean up yourself, have at it. The process of making things from scratch and cleaning up afterwards does put a limit on how many times a week you will eat desserts and fried foods.

So in the end I am getting to a better place with how I address food in general and my relationship with it. Being honest about my eating disorder has helped me greatly, it certainly helps the soul when you do away with the stigma of having a disorder. There is no need for shame, it’s a cross to bear but everyone has one. There doesn’t exist, in the entire world, a person who can honestly state that they are cross free. It isn’t human.

Searching for inspiration

Tags

bread, cheese, eating, fondue, google, pictures, postaday2012

• Googling for Inspiration
• 

  When I look at this classic version of the fondue, I think of a cozy chalet during a snow storm. A roaring fire also comes to mind along with the savory aroma of good Swiss cheese perfumed with a fine white wine and the smell of warm crusty bread. My mouth is salivating with all of these images and I can practically smell everything right here while I am typing.

More food and family

Tags

cousins, dessert, eating, family dinners, family gatherings, food, postaday2012, spring rolls, swiss cheese, tomato salad, vietnamese spring rolls

By now you must be thinking that I have gone through all of my relatives and no, I haven’t just yet. Today we welcomed my cousin, her husband and their nine children, none of which are twins, at my Tantine’s house. She is the one who is my chauffeur’s mother and my mother’s sister, who is currently staying there as well. At 11:30 this morning my Tantine, Tonton, the baby girl and I got into Tantine’s car to help prepare for the arrival of two carloads of small human beings and their parents. We didn’t come empty-handed, my Tantine made a terrine of potatoes, tomato and zucchini with creme fraiche and swiss cheese, she also brought the roast beef, the bread and the apricot tart. Tantine L. at her house had made a tiramisu and a huge mushroom, avocado and tomato salad. She also spent all day Wednesday making Vietnamese spring rolls for all of us, for later today at dinner. The roast beef and the terrine were simply for lunch.

We sat down to eat, mind you we were 17 divided between two tables, at 12:30, we had the hors d’oeuvre of gratton on toast rounds, gratton is a type of pate, and cantaloupe. The salad was the appetizer, next came the roast beef and terrine, followed by cheese and salad and then the two desserts. My cousin Didier and Vivianne stopped by for dessert and left after coffee.

Since we were killing time until it was dinner time to get back to the business of eating, we played cards for a while and then went for a walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, it was time to sit back down and tackle the Vietnamese spring rolls, to be brief, there aren’t any left. We went through the spring rolls, the lettuce and the mint as if we hadn’t eaten just a few hours before. On top of that we finished what was left of the apricot tart and graduated to ice cream. I tell you it almost feels like I have entered in the French marathon of family dinners, I am not complaining, they are just too great to pass up. The food, the laughs and the conversation, it’s the best.